Dark Elf Priests
|upkeep_cost = |num_figures = |moves = |melee = |ranged = |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = Ranged Attack x4 Healer Purify Healing Spell x1 }} Dark Elf Priests are a type of Normal Unit. This unit may be created from any Dark Elf town, for the Construction Cost of . Dark Elf Priests are powerful units, possessing an attack that is as strong as that of the average Magicians. They also have a weaker but still useful Melee Attack, though their combat properties do not encourage using this attack except in an emergency. Additionally, Priests attached to an army can quickly heal damaged units after any battle, and can also cast the Healing spell during battle to heal friendly units. They also have the innate ability to Purify Corrupted tiles. All Dark Elves are inherently-magical creatures. Not only does this make the Dark Elf Priests' Ranged Attack much stronger, but it also raises their Resistance score to a point where they are literally immune to some ill effects, and will grow immune to more of them as they gain Experience. This comes at a price of course, with Dark Elf Priests costing 100% more to produce than a basic Priests unit. Dark Elf Priests are thus quite strong, but also less abundant. Dark Elf Priests require an Upkeep Cost of and to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically. Unit Properties Physical Description Dark Elf Priests are a group of slender humanoids with violet-colored skin and white hair. They wear indigo-colored leather clothes, and carry short ceremonial daggers which they can use quite well. However, their primary ability is to channel magical energy into useful applications. Dark Elves are inherently magical beings, and can channel magical energy into a destructive force on a whim. They are also incredibly resistant to magic and other ill effects. Dark Elf Priests are a , containing when fully healed. Attack Properties The Dark Elf Priests' Ranged Attack is very powerful, even when the unit is still inexperienced. It can be used up to 4 times in each battle, and rivals the strength of a Magicians unit's attack, and can easily pierce through most armor even at long range. In dire situations (or when they've run out of Ranged Attacks), the Priests can switch to a weaker Melee Attack which is useful only against low-tier Normal Units. Each Priest's Ranged Attack has a strength of , causing Magical Damage. With no additional bonuses, each Priest delivers an average of about per attack. This is a solid amount of damage, which has a good chance of piercing almost any Normal Unit's armor, and with all attacking simultaneously also has a good chance of hurting Fantastic Units - especially after gaining some . The magical nature of this attack means that Magic-Immune targets can completely ignore it. On the other hand, this type of Ranged Attack does not suffer any penalties for distance, and thus will inflict the same average amount of damage at both close range and long range. The Priests' Melee Attack is significantly weaker than its Ranged Attack, but still has a strength comparable to that of Swordsmen - at . It is not magical by default, however. This Melee Attack will inflict an average of per Priest - just enough to get through basic enemy armor. Defense Properties Dark Elf Priests possess a Defense score of - making them very well-armored compared to other Normal Units. The unit will block about from any damage source, on average. As with most Normal Units, each Dark Elf Priest possesses only . In other words, each point of inflicted on this unit will kill off one of its . Despite their respectable Defense score, with a total of only for a full unit Priests are not really built to engage in any serious combat. They can provide support fire, but won't stand up to most enemy units or any serious source of damage. Dark Elves are inherently resistant to magic, and Priests are already better at fending off evil magics. As a result, Dark Elf Priests possess the highest Resistance score of any Normal Unit, at . This renders them completely immune to a handful of Curses, spells and Special Attacks. With each additional Experience Level gained by this unit it will become immune to additional varieties of ill effects, to the point where the Dark Elf Priests become immune to all such effects (at ). Other Properties Dark Elf Priests move at a slow , and can only traverse land tiles. The unit has no special movement properties. Basic Strategy Dark Elf Priests are very powerful Ranged Attackers, and as such are a much more valuable addition to any army than other types of Priests. Of course, aside from causing damage to enemies, Priests have the ability to quickly heal up an army, and to Purify Corrupted tiles. This encourages most empires to have at least one such unit, or several to attach to its various armies. During battle, Dark Elf Priests can easily destroy an enemy Ranged Attack unit, or severely damage advancing Melee Attack units. Even Fantastic Units may be damaged to some extent by this attack. Of course, the rest of the Dark Elf army also take part in the ranged bombardment, and the cumulative damage can result in severely weakened enemies that can then be killed off easily in Melee combat. Unfortunately, the Dark Elf Priests will run out of ammunition after 4 attacks, but should be able to do some serious damage before that happens. Do not be tempted to use the Dark Elf Priests' Melee Attack - they may inflict some damage, but are very likely to be killed by the enemy at the same time. Keep the Priests back, and when necessary cast the Healing spell to prolong the survival of one of your other units. The Priests' post-battle healing abilities will come in handy to any advancing army. It is sometimes a good idea to have the Priests trailing behind the army, so that they do not need to expose themselves during battle. If units in the main army are seriously hurt in battle, the Priests unit will move into their tile after the battle to start the faster healing process. Within a few turns, the entire army should be healed up and can continue moving towards its objective, again with the Priests trailing behind. Naturally, any appearance of Corruption close to your towns may cause an immediate need to create and use some Priests for purification. If you can afford it, consider creating a dedicated army stack of 4 units of Priests, so that together they can move about and swiftly clear away any Corruption occurring within your empire. This is particularly useful when an enemy wizard casts Great Wasting, which would mean a lot of cleaning to be done. Note however that Dark Elf Priests are extremely expensive compared to Shamans and even other types of Priests, so if you have access to both you may wish to use Shamans instead for purification. Ability Overview Ranged Attack x4 * This unit may use a instead of a Melee Attack up to 4 times in each battle. Once the unit's ammo is expended, it must resort to Melee Attacks. Healer * Damaged allies stacked with this unit will regain an extra number of each turn (on the overland map). * This applies only to units that have natural healing at all. Undead and units from the realm do not heal. * The amount of extra health regained each turn equals 20% of the total amount of the damaged unit would have with all its alive. Purify * This unit can Purify Corrupted tiles. * To use this ability, travel to the Corrupted tile and select the "Purify" command. * A single unit purifies a tile in 5 turns. Each additional unit simultaneously performing Purification in the same tile accelerates the process. * The maximum rate - 2 turns to purify a tile - is achieved with 4 units working simultaneously. There is no benefit to adding more units. Healing Spell x1 * This unit may cast the Healing spell once per combat at any friendly target. * This spell-casting does not take out of the Wizard's pool, nor does it reduce the Wizard's Spell Skill for this battle. * Immediately after casting the spell, the unit's turn ends. It may not move or attack until its next turn. Experience Table The following table illustrates how Dark Elf Priests improve as they gain Experience. Any properties that are not listed here do not improve with Experience in any way. * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both the Warlord Retort and the Crusade spell must be in play simultaneously. Average Damage Output The table below details the average amount of damage that each in a Dark Elf Priests unit will deliver with each type of attack, based on . It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to figure out the chance of hurting that target. Acquisition Dark Elf Priests may be produced in any Dark Elf Town. A town must contain a Parthenon to be able to produce Dark Elf Priests. Should a town lose its Parthenon, it can no longer produce Dark Elf Priests until a replacement structure is built. The Construction Cost of this unit is . Dark Elf Priests may appear for hire as Mercenaries. They may already have some Experience on being hired, and several units may be hired simultaneously. Hiring these units requires a certain cost in that depends on many different factors. Dark Elf Priest Mercenaries have the same Upkeep Cost as a normally-constructed unit. Category:Units Category:Normal Units Category:Dark Elves Category:Priests